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SKYSCRAPERS: BOON or BANE?

To many the skyscraper embodies tomorrow in steel, concrete and glass. Each tower represents a vision of the future, of a sci-fi landscape. It is hard not to be impressed by the skyline of, for example, New York or of Dubai, where the likes of the Burj Khalifa are symbolic of the transformative power of money and determination.
At first glance the debate appears to split along clear lines. Effectively the global trade organization for the developers and builders of tall buildings – building upwards, rather than outwards, is the only practical response to the unstoppable global macro trend that is the population shift into cities. Every day, some 189,000 people are ‘urbanizing’. In other words: more and more of us are being born in, or moving into cities.
The answer is to increase densities by building up, not ever expanding urban sprawl outwards, which would never work in the end because of the necessary energy usage,” he argues. “There’s no clear understanding of the ideal way of achieving densification, but, given the scale of population movement we’re seeing, [so far] skyscrapers do seem the best answer.
Losing identity
On the other hand, others argue that, far from addressing this need to affordably house more city-dwellers, most new skyscrapers – given their huge development costs – meet only a perceived, perhaps temporary, need to supply more office space, luxury hotels or investment apartments for wealthy non-residents.
Cash-strapped local authorities can’t resist selling the land and approving building. Meanwhile, opponents complain that unrestricted and too often ill-considered skyscrapers can destroy the flavour of a city.
This push towards more towers is especially a pressure, aesthetically at least, for cities of historic architecture, says Barbara Weiss, an architect and founder of Skyline, a campaign to curtail London’s proposed tall building boom. Yet it’s not limited to them. The fact is that there are good and bad ways of doing towers, and there are a lot of bad ones going up. This tower boom is really a worldwide crisis. You’re either potentially losing something precious or, at best, missing a real opportunity for positive city planning.

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